Tuesday, 4 April 2017

If you've taken the Family Tree DNA Family Finder test check the revised ethnic origin assessments just posted. Mine have changed but not dramatically.

European from 76 to 73 per cent, comprising:

British Isles from 71 to 66 per cent
East Europe from 5 to 7 per cent

Jewish Diaspora (Ashkenazi) from 19 to 23 percent. Sephardic is now explicitly mentioned, Other companies incorporate the Jewish with the European total.

There are also three areas which I'm analysed to have less than 2 per cent, but with a note that "A trace percentage indicates a very small amount of shared DNA in common with the corresponding population. In some cases this minor percentage could be attributed to background noise."

Nothing stayed the same...I went from 95% to 96% European, Asia Minor was down from 4% to trace (<2%), British Isles up from 0% to 25%, West and Central Europe down from 37% to 21%, while my two siblings's origins increased in West and Central Europe from 43% to 50% and 0% to 69%. For two of us, our Scandinavian origins stayed relatively the same, 29% up from 28% and 17% down from 19%, but for the third, it dropped dramatically from 55% to 22%. One sibling went from 8% Asia Minor to 0%, and that loss was taken up by 7% Sephardic where none of us had shown any traces of Jewish genetics using the old formulas. (The other two are still 0% from the Jewish Diaspora...) Traditional genealogy has most of our ancestry originating in Switzerland and along the Rhine in Germany, with Y-DNA indicating an early migration route from the Baltic (perhaps with roots in Scandinavia), south to Asia Minor, through East and Central Europe on the way to the Rhine valley. I must say that I felt more comfortable with the old admixtures. And I don't see how ethnic origins can vary so dramatically for 3 persons who are deemed to be full siblings in the autosomal DNA tests.

Yahoo! I was 3% Finnish and now have become 23% Scandinavian. I am so happy to having Viking origins. Always loved Norway,Orkney and Shetland. I say all this while chuckling, as I could be a different origin next Year! Anne in Ottawa

Yahoo! I was 3% Finnish and now have become 23% Scandinavian. I am so happy to having Viking origins. Always loved Norway,Orkney and Shetland. I say all this while chuckling, as I could be a different origin next Year! Anne in Ottawa

The new percentages match the genealogical records I have more than the previous ones. 1) I have several English surnames in our line, but before the changes had 0% British Isles. 2) Also, I was surprised with the high Scandinavian percentage last time. My grandfather said there was Scandinavian, but the 18% matches better, since we have many more German surnames. 3) I know of no Eastern European roots, but the 7% and <2% both seem feasible.